Villeneuve seeks to change NASCAR reputation at Sonoma

Friday

Jun 21, 2013 at 9:12 PMJun 21, 2013 at 9:16 PM

Clint Bowyer described Jacques Villeneuve's racing attempts in NASCAR as a "train wreck."

By JENNA FRYERAssociated Press

SONOMA, Calif. — He’s a former Formula One world champion, an Indianapolis 500 winner. But those accomplishments mean very little when Jacques Villeneuve races in NASCAR. His sparkling resumé has been shredded by nine eventful Nationwide races that have made Villeneuve the punch line of many jokes as he returned to competition this weekend at Sonoma Raceway. “Train wreck,” defending race winner Clint Bowyer said Friday. “Extremely fast train, but usually ends up derailed, somehow. We’ve all seen what happened in those Nationwide races and it was too bad because it seemed to be one common denominator in a lot of the cautions.”Villeneuve believes the reputation is unfair and inaccurate. Yes, he made a mistake when he unsuccessfully tried to go three-wide at Road America in 2011 to trigger a crash that collected several cars. The notoriety then grew when he spun Danica Patrick on the final lap in last year’s return. It’s created what Villeneuve called “a preconceived idea” of how he races. “What you have to try to avoid is the stupid moves like the one I did in Elkhart Lake two years ago,” he said Friday. “That was stupid and I took a couple of guys out. That happens to everyone. That one cost a lot. And last year I ran into Danica and that was the worst thing you can do in racing. It doesn’t matter ultimately how or why it happened, that’s enough to create this image and now I am stuck with it.”The image didn’t scare off Phoenix Racing owner James Finch, who wanted a wheelman for the No. 51 Chevrolet that Kurt Busch nearly drove to victory last year. With IndyCar and the 24 Hours of Le Mans also running this weekend, the pool of available “road course ringers” was small. So the team found Villeneuve, who in December had relocated his wife and three children to the tiny country of Andora, where he’s been doing F1 commentary this year. He was offered the No. 51 seat — which was apparently a relief to the Nationwide regulars. “This year, we don’t have Jacques Villeneuve over here to drive us crazy,” Nelson Piquet Jr. said at Road America. In Sonoma instead, he didn’t get the warmest of greetings from Patrick. “I saw him in the rookie meeting and I was like ‘Oh, hey,’” Patrick said. “After all the things that have happened, it’s hard to have any respect for someone like that.”But Phoenix Racing viewed Villeneuve’s addition as a boon for the struggling company. Finch has claimed he’s shutting the team down at the end of July, a fate that could potentially be staved off by some good on-track results. “A Formula One champ, an IndyCar champ, driving our car, that’s pretty big for James,” Phoenix general manager Steve Barkdoll said. It wasn’t a totally hostile reception for Villeneuve, who found a friendly face in former F1 rival Juan Pablo Montoya. Since the two no longer are in the F1, Villeneuve has found Montoya to be helpful during his forays into NASCAR. The two first bumped into each other in the garage before Friday practice, where Montoya gave Villeneuve a turn-by-turn analysis of the 1.99-mile course. He told Villeneuve where to brake, where to slow and where to attempt a pass. “He’ll race fair. I don’t think he’s a guy who will wreck on purpose. Same way I am — if you push my buttons, I push back,” Montoya said.At 42, Villeneuve has not fully given up on racing. He tried for several years to put together a NASCAR program but found the sponsorship climate too difficult because American companies weren’t interested in a French-Canadian driver. Then came the decision to relocate full-time to Europe and take a stab at television, which Villeneuve has found he enjoys more than he expected. “It’s not my childhood dream, but I am having fun. I am definitely having fun,” he said. “But I prefer driving. I am still a racer at heart.” He’d like to run a clean and quiet race Sunday that cleans up his reputation and continues his dream.

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